Nicholas Blincoe | The Guardianhttps://www.theguardian.com/profile/nicholasblincoe
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Battle of the drones: the little guys taking on the tech giantshttps://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/feb/07/battle-of-drones-amateurs-taking-on-tech-giants
<p>As Amazon and Google race to control the commercial drone market, will these enthusiasts beat them at their own game?<br></p><p>Imperial College in London is a mind-boggling labyrinth of ramps and walkways that might have been designed to test the IQ of visitors. The <a href="http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/aerialrobotics">Aerial Robotics Laboratory</a> is so well hidden that Mirko Kovac, its Swiss-born director, should offer academic credits to anyone who can find him. Kovac, a slight, precise man of 34, flits between tables as he demonstrates the lab’s latest prototype, a flying 3D printer modelled on the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edible-nest_swiftlet">edible-nest swiftlet</a>, a small Asian bird. “Our aim is to create designs inspired by nature,” he says. “They may look very different, but the underlying principles are the same.” His team has also built a robot that jumps and glides like a flying squirrel; while working at Harvard, Kovac developed a three-stage rocket, half the length of a Bic ballpoint, that mimics the boost-and-glide flight of butterflies. Kovac is softly spoken, which makes it all the more disarming when he puts forth his vision of the future. “We want to create machines that can live autonomously, building nests, repairing each other and reproducing within their own ecosystems.”</p><p>There will be no difficulty finding Imperial’s new Aerial Robotics Lab when it opens later this year. It is intended to be the focal point of the London campus, part aviary and part aquarium, with glass walls that will allow passersby to watch machines hover and dive, swim underwater or build nests in the roof space. It is a very public show of commitment by the university to the future of aerial robotics or, as they’re better known, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/drones">drones</a>.</p><p>The US military has flown drones since the 1950s. It now has 10,000 machines operating under strict military secrecy.</p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/dec/25/personal-drone-christmas-privacy-rules-hazards">Got a personal drone for Christmas? Use with caution</a> </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/feb/07/battle-of-drones-amateurs-taking-on-tech-giants">Continue reading...</a>TechnologyDrones (military)GoogleAmazon.comRobotsPhotographyWorld newsAeronauticsScienceMapping technologiesMapsLife and styleSat, 07 Feb 2015 09:00:04 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/feb/07/battle-of-drones-amateurs-taking-on-tech-giantsPhotograph: Matt Murphy for the GuardianIllustration: Matt Murphy for the GuardianPhotograph: Matt Murphy for the GuardianIllustration: Matt Murphy for the GuardianNicholas Blincoe2015-02-07T09:00:04ZAnnemarie Jacir: an auteur in exilehttps://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/jun/05/annemarie-jacir-auteur-in-exile-palestinian-director-when-i-saw-you
Palestinian film-maker Annemarie Jacir lives in Jordan and can see her homeland but cannot go there. Like the protagonist of her film, When I Saw You, she is an outsider – with a clear view<p>Annemarie Jacir recently developed a crush on Hugh Grant. The reason? His <a href="https://twitter.com/HackedOffHugh/status/472801201462185984" title="">tweet about her new movie</a>, When I&nbsp;Saw You. "Astonishing Palestinian film," he wrote. "Have discovered Arab cinema." Jacir laughs. "He is now very popular in some Palestinian circles," she says, her low, serious voice broken by a bright-toothed smile.</p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osLg7tWgx_w" title="">When I Saw You</a> is the tale of a&nbsp;12-year-old boy and his mother – though comparisons to About a Boy stop there. Set in the aftermath of the 1967 Israeli invasion of the West Bank, the film follows Tarek, a refugee living in a UN camp within sight of the land he and his mother have lost. The boy is shocked to learn that many of his fellow refugees have been homeless since 1948. He tails these men on a&nbsp;long trek into Jordan's hills and is soon adopted by the fighters and their laconic, chain-smoking commander.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/jun/05/annemarie-jacir-auteur-in-exile-palestinian-director-when-i-saw-you">Continue reading...</a>DramaPalestinian territoriesFilmMiddle East and North AfricaWorld newsCultureThu, 05 Jun 2014 17:09:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/jun/05/annemarie-jacir-auteur-in-exile-palestinian-director-when-i-saw-youPhotograph: PRWhen I Saw You … Annemarie Jacir's second feature.Photograph: PRWhen I Saw You … Annemarie Jacir's second feature.Nicholas Blincoe2014-06-05T17:09:00ZRoman Polanski and the man who invented masochismhttps://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/may/23/venus-fur-roman-polanski-novella
On the UK release of Roman Polanski's Venus in Fur Nicholas Blincoe returns to Leopold&nbsp;von Sacher-Masoch's novella, a sweetshop of seduction and suspense<p><a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2014/04/05/venus_in_fur_watch_the_trailer_for_roman_polanski_s_new_film_featuring_mathieu.html" title="">Roman Polanski's new film, <em>Venus in Fur</em>,</a> sent me back to Leopold von Sacher-Masoch's 1870 novella with every intention of writing a stern, authoritative appraisal. Inevitably, I&nbsp;was soon playing around with Google Maps as I plotted a journey from Lviv, the birthplace of Sacher-Masoch; through Nowy Sacz, home to Isidor Isaak Sadger, the psychiatrist who coined the term sadomasochist; to Krakow, the city where Roman Polanski was born. The entire trip would take no more than four hours by car, five tops, through the old kingdom of Galicia, now western Ukraine and Poland.</p><p>The term "masochism" first appears in Richard Krafft-Ebing's 1886 forensic reference book, <em>Psychopathia Sexualis</em>. So does "sadism", for that matter, but the Marquis de Sade had been dead for 72 years. Sacher-Masoch was very much alive, and aghast to discover how his name had been used. He was a famous author and social reformer, the editor of On the Highest, a radical magazine that fought for Jewish rights and female emancipation. Suddenly, he was a sexual preference. The term stuck. No one who has read <em>Venus in Furs</em> will be surprised to learn that Sacher-Masoch was a masochist, who was moderately successful at encouraging women to play along. Without his talent for persuasion, he might have been a very unhappy man – and he would certainly not have been a writer, because his gift for making the dubious seem plausible lies at the heart of his work. In <em>Venus in Furs</em>, Severin von Kusiemski convinces the lively and affectionate Wanda von Dunajew that her true, hidden self that he adores is cold and cruel. Wanda obliging turns herself into an ice queen. Sacher-Masoch is the kind of slave who is forever pulling the strings.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/may/23/venus-fur-roman-polanski-novella">Continue reading...</a>FilmCultureFictionBooksRoman PolanskiFri, 23 May 2014 17:00:01 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/may/23/venus-fur-roman-polanski-novellaPhotograph: Sportsphoto Ltd/AllstarPulling strings … Emmanuelle Seigner and Mathieu Amalric in Venus in Fur. Photograph: Sportsphoto Ltd/AllstarPhotograph: Sportsphoto Ltd/AllstarPulling strings … Emmanuelle Seigner and Mathieu Amalric in Venus in Fur. Photograph: Sportsphoto Ltd/AllstarNicholas Blincoe2014-05-23T17:00:01ZWhen artists go to war: inside the PLO's information departmenthttps://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/may/13/plo-palestine-art-the-world-is-with-us
The Palestinian Revolution was fought with posters and films as well as rocks and bullets. As a new exhibition opens, Nicholas Blincoe looks at the work of the PLO's information department<p>"I was 24 years old. We were in danger. The Israeli planes were flying raids overhead. And I was designing posters." <a href="http://www.palestineposterproject.org/artist/hosni-radwan" title="">Hosni Radwan</a> won't easily forget the conditions in the Beirut offices of the PLO Information Department, as an exhibition of the work it produced opens in London. The World Is With Us: Global Film and Poster Art from the Palestinian Revolution, 1968-1980, covers a tumultuous and violent time, but one that saw an extraordinary flowering of creativity.</p><p>Radwan remembers seeing figures like the poet <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/aug/11/poetry.israelandthepalestinians" title="">Mahmoud Darwish</a>, who edited the journal Palestinian Affairs, or the novelist <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2007/jul/28/fiction.politics" title="">Elias Khoury</a>, who, despite being Lebanese, had fought with a PLO unit and was almost blinded on the battlefield before he took a job in Radwan's offices. "There were Arabs from everywhere," Radwan says. "Volunteers just kept coming."</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/may/13/plo-palestine-art-the-world-is-with-us">Continue reading...</a>ArtArt and designPalestinian territoriesMiddle East and North AfricaCultureTue, 13 May 2014 06:00:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/may/13/plo-palestine-art-the-world-is-with-usPhotograph: Scan courtesy of the Palestine Poster Project Archives ( PPPA)A detail from Day of Solidarity with the People of Palestine, 1968, by Faustino Perez. Scan courtesy of the Palestine Poster Project Archives (PPPA). Click to enlargePhotograph: Scan courtesy of the Palestine Poster Project Archives ( PPPA)A detail from Day of Solidarity with the People of Palestine, 1968, by Faustino Perez. Scan courtesy of the Palestine Poster Project Archives (PPPA). Click to enlargeNicholas Blincoe2014-05-13T06:00:00ZThe Palestinian accord is, at the very least, a clean slate | Nicholas Blincoehttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/apr/25/palestinian-accord-government-fatah-hamas-pact
It may not bring a new government, nor help with peace negotiations, but the Fatah-Hamas pact is a break with the past<p>Will the new <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/23/plo-hamas-agree-unity-pact-form-government" title="">Palestinian accord</a> lead to a unity government, after the seven-year cold war between Fatah and Hamas? There is an aura of scepticism around a deal that differs in no respect from previous, failed agreements. However, the pact was signed in the presence of Mustafa Barghouti, the leader of a small independent party who has resisted joining more obviously doomed governments. Maybe his confidence will be infectious. Yet the pact dodges any mention of control of the armed forces, the issue that led to the Hamas takeover of Gaza in June 2007. If the parties continue to ignore the issue, the unity government cannot last long.</p><p>Will a new government prepare the way for elections, slated to take place six months down the line? This is even less likely. Hamas won the January 2006 elections but recent opinion polls have not been kind to it. Hamas would doubtless block parliamentary elections rather than risk losing. However, this is no obstacle to a presidential election. By tradition, Hamas is uninterested in the presidency, and its position has hardened after the debacle of Mohamed Morsi's presidency in Egypt. A new Palestinian president could easily survive a short-lived government. After all, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/22/israel-run-palestine-peace-talks-fail-mahmoud-abbas" title="">Mahmoud Abbas</a> has remained president for 10 years, while the last elected government lasted barely more than a year.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/apr/25/palestinian-accord-government-fatah-hamas-pact">Continue reading...</a>Palestinian territoriesFatahHamasIsraelMiddle East and North AfricaWorld newsMahmoud AbbasBenjamin NetanyahuFri, 25 Apr 2014 12:46:56 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/apr/25/palestinian-accord-government-fatah-hamas-pactPhotograph: Abbas Momani/AFP/Getty ImagesA boy holds a Palestinian flag in the village of Nabi Saleh, west of Ramallah. Photograph: Abbas Momani/AFP/Getty ImagesPhotograph: Abbas Momani/AFP/Getty ImagesA boy holds a Palestinian flag in the village of Nabi Saleh, west of Ramallah. Photograph: Abbas Momani/AFP/Getty ImagesNicholas Blincoe2014-04-25T12:46:56ZCameron at the Knesset: helping to burst the bubble of Israeli politics? | Nicholas Blincoehttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/mar/14/cameron-knesset-burst-bubble-israel-politics
The prime minister was right to remind politicians that Israel's reputation depends on respect for international law<p>When <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/mar/12/david-cameron-oppose-boycott-israel-speech-knesset" title="">David Cameron arrived at the Knesset</a> to deliver an inoffensive, even fulsome, speech to Israel's lawmakers, he could hardly have expected <a href="http://www.timesofisrael.com/mks-boycott-heckle-pms-pre-cameron-knesset-speech/" title="">walk-outs, boycotts and heckling</a>. The walk-out came from representatives of the ultra-orthodox religious parties protesting about a bill that would compel religious students to join the army. The boycott came from Israel's Labour party, which supported many of the measures in the bill, so opted to boycott the vote in order to build a coalition with the ultra-religious parties. The heckling came from the leftwing Palestinian-Israeli MK Esawi Frij who barracked Cameron for focusing on history rather than the future. At least Frij was listening to Cameron, whose speech indeed had a lot of history going on, from a claim by the British prime minister that one of his ancestors wrote the first Yiddish novel to praise for a British Victorian charity, the <a href="http://www.pef.org.uk/" title="">Palestine Exploration Fund</a>.</p><p>If Cameron learned anything from his visit, it ought to be that Israelis are fully engaged in arguing with other Israelis; the rest of the world does not get a look in. Israel's political class exists inside a bubble in which only their views matter, no matter how detached from reality they might be. A case in point is prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu's claim, reiterated in a speech he gave preceding Cameron's, that the chief obstacle to a peace deal is not the Israeli settlement programme but, rather, Palestinians' refusal to recognise Israel as a Jewish state. The <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/02/us-rebukes-binyamin-netanyahu-misrepresentation-john-kerry-comments" title="">US secretary of state, John Kerry, has finally condemned Netanyahu's</a> focus on this straw-man argument. The Palestinian leadership long ago recognised the state of Israel.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/mar/14/cameron-knesset-burst-bubble-israel-politics">Continue reading...</a>IsraelMiddle East and North AfricaWorld newsDavid CameronPoliticsBenjamin NetanyahuFri, 14 Mar 2014 16:30:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/mar/14/cameron-knesset-burst-bubble-israel-politicsPhotograph: Jim Hollander/REXBritish prime minister David Cameron addresses the Israeli Knesset in Jerusalem on 12 March 2014. Photograph: Jim Hollander/RexPhotograph: Jim Hollander/REXBritish prime minister David Cameron addresses the Israeli Knesset in Jerusalem on 12 March 2014. Photograph: Jim Hollander/RexNicholas Blincoe2014-03-14T16:30:00ZThe dog lovers and the con artisthttps://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/jan/11/dog-club-and-the-con-artist
The dog-training club was the core of the community. So how did they let their most trusted member con them out of 40 grand?<p>The <a href="http://www.belfastdogtraining.co.uk/" title="">City of Belfast Dog Training Club </a>meets in a community centre in the Castlereagh Hills. At 27 years old, Tracey Douglas is the youngest of the trainers. She sets the scene. "If you see, there's a wee kitchen. Kathryn Adair would be there, waiting to greet people, saying, 'Ooh, you're for the puppy class.' She was always very warm, very welcoming."</p><p>Suzanne Cassells is a bright and brisk redhead in her early 30s. She helps Tracey run the last training session of the evening. "Some nights can be challenging, but Kathryn was always there to reassure you," she says. It is more than 18 months since <a href="http://www.irishnews.com/news/dog-lover-brought-to-heel-following-her-225k-scam-1152374" title="">Adair's conviction for fraud</a>, and still everyone feels a profound sense of disbelief. "She was the face and the heart of the club," Suzanne says. Alex Douglas, 53, is Tracey's father and chair of the club. "We've had so long to think about it," he says, "but even now I wonder, did she just befriend us all to do this? Or were we good friends first? Were we being groomed?"</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/jan/11/dog-club-and-the-con-artist">Continue reading...</a>Northern IrelandCrimePetsAnimalsBelfastUK newsDogsLife and styleSat, 11 Jan 2014 09:00:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/jan/11/dog-club-and-the-con-artistPhotograph: Rob Durston/GuardianAlex Douglas with his Australian shepherd dog Tinker. He gave fraudster Kathryn Adair £5,000 from his redundancy payout. Photograph: Rob Durston for the GuardianPhotograph: Rob Durston/GuardianAlex Douglas with his Australian shepherd dog Tinker. He gave fraudster Kathryn Adair £5,000 from his redundancy payout. Photograph: Rob Durston for the GuardianNicholas Blincoe2014-01-11T09:00:00ZWhy men decide to become single dadshttps://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/nov/02/men-single-dad-father-surrogacy-adoption
You're successful at work, happily single – and desperate to become a father. What happens when men get baby hunger? We meet the parents who have decided to go it alone through surrogacy or adoption<p>Joseph is five months old. He has dimpled arms, a&nbsp;bright smile and a shock of black hair that stands out against the snowy white bedspread he&nbsp;is lying on. He might be Hollywood's take on childhood – and Hollywood is pretty much where&nbsp;he came from. Joseph's father, Kit Ram, is a&nbsp;single man and Joseph was conceived with the help of a surrogacy agency based in Beverly Hills. Joseph snuggles into the crook of Kit's arm while Harry, the Guardian's photographer, perches above the bed on a chair. I sit in the window bay, my legs and head tucked out of shot. We are all the same age, Harry, Kit and me, just three men in their late 40s, going googly for a baby. In the next-door driveway, a mother chases after a&nbsp;child riding a tricycle. In the garden opposite, a&nbsp;climbing frame sits beside a weeping willow. There are children everywhere. Even Harry has a&nbsp;two-year-old toddler, and has proudly shown off the photographs. I am the odd one out, the sole childless man.</p><p>It gets worse. Joseph pushes his face into his dad's T-shirt, leaving Harry struggling to get his shot. He asks for help: can I get Joseph to look in my direction? I have no idea what interests a five-month-old baby, so I wave my arms and squawk like a wounded pterodactyl. Kit and Harry stare aghast. It would have been less embarrassing had my head revolved 360 degrees.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/nov/02/men-single-dad-father-surrogacy-adoption">Continue reading...</a>Parents and parentingSurrogacyAdoptionFamilyPregnancyChildbirthHealth & wellbeingLife and styleSocietySat, 02 Nov 2013 08:30:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/nov/02/men-single-dad-father-surrogacy-adoptionPhotograph: Webb Chappell/GuardianBrian Tessier with his sons Bryce (left), seven, and Ben, 11: ‘I drive a people carrier. I live in the suburbs. I’m thinking about writing a book called My So-Called Alternative Life, because it’s all so normal’ Photograph: Webb Chappell for the GuardianPhotograph: Webb Chappell/GuardianBrian Tessier with his sons Bryce (left), seven, and Ben, 11: ‘I drive a people carrier. I live in the suburbs. I’m thinking about writing a book called My So-Called Alternative Life, because it’s all so normal’ Photograph: Webb Chappell for the GuardianNicholas Blincoe2013-11-02T08:30:00ZMr and Mrs Avant Garde: art's real-life coupleshttps://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2013/oct/08/art-real-life-couples
Is working with your partner heaven – or hell? Three couples talk to Nicholas Blincoe about on-the-job romance, who gets top billing, and what happens when it all goes wrong<p>Rob is a photographer, Nick a painter but they began collaborating soon after beginning a romance 16 years ago. Their first years together were spent almost entirely in the dark: their earliest works are splendidly luminous pieces, created by swinging torches over photographic paper in the darkroom. Nick says: "We would think up the idea together, then Rob would work out how to execute it, timing the exposure to get the right colour, and we would work on it together."</p><p>They are now 44 with two children, aged 11 and 13, work together as <a href="http://www.robandnick.com/" title="">Rob and Nick Carter</a>, and have a new show at the Fine Art Society, London. Their&nbsp;body of work has become more diffuse, including digitally rendered films that bring old masters to life, yet they claim the demarcation over who does what has become increasingly fuzzy. Why has it worked so well? Rob's explanation is simple: "I think we're lucky because we have a very similar aesthetic."</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2013/oct/08/art-real-life-couples">Continue reading...</a>ArtArt and designCultureTue, 08 Oct 2013 06:00:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2013/oct/08/art-real-life-couplesPhotograph: PR‘There’s an unknowable element’ … Mary and Marty St James, centre, on Mr & MrsPhotograph: PR‘There’s an unknowable element’ … Mary and Marty St James, centre, on Mr & MrsNicholas Blincoe2013-10-08T06:00:00ZElectrosensitivity: is technology killing us?https://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/mar/29/electrosensitivity-is-technology-killing-us
Is modern life making us&nbsp;ill? Yes, say those who&nbsp;suffer from electrosensitivity. Are&nbsp;they cranks, or should we all be throwing away our mobile phones?<p>Tim Hallam is just tall enough to seem gangly. His height makes the bedroom feel even smaller than it is. Muddy sunlight filters through the grey gauze hung over his window. His narrow bed appears to be covered with a glistening silver mosquito net. The door and the ceiling are lined with tinfoil. Tim tells me there is also a layer of foil beneath the wallpaper and under the wood-effect flooring. He says, "The room is completely insulated; the edges are sealed with aluminium tape and connected with conducting tape so I could <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_%28electricity%29" title="">ground</a> the whole room. It's a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faraday_cage" title="">Faraday cage</a>, effectively. Grounding helps with the low frequencies radiation, apparently. The high frequencies just bounce off the outside."</p><p>Tim is trying to escape atmospheric manmade radiation caused by Wi-Fi, phone signals, radio, even TV screens and fluorescent bulbs. It's a&nbsp;hopeless task, he admits: "It's so hard to get away from, and it's taken a toll on my life." I&nbsp;offer to put my phone outside the room and he happily accepts, firmly closing the door. He explains the phone would have kept searching for a signal. "And because it wouldn't find one, it would keep ramping up." With the tinfoil inside his cage, the signal would hurtle around the room like a&nbsp;panicked bird.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/mar/29/electrosensitivity-is-technology-killing-us">Continue reading...</a>HealthSocietyHealth & wellbeingLife and styleMobile phonesTelecomsTechnologyEnergyEnvironmentPsychologyScienceFri, 29 Mar 2013 19:00:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/mar/29/electrosensitivity-is-technology-killing-usPhotograph: Thomas BallTim Hallam, 36, sleeps in a custom-made silver-coated sleeping bag that helps block out electromagnetic fields. Photograph: Thomas BallPhotograph: Thomas BallTim Hallam, 36, sleeps in a custom-made silver-coated sleeping bag that helps block out electromagnetic fields. Photograph: Thomas BallNicholas Blincoe2013-03-29T19:00:00ZCoping with cancer: you, me and the big Chttps://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/mar/09/you-me-big-c-cancer-carers
Cancer is a life-changer, not just for sufferers but for those who care for them, too. A friend, a husband and a mother share their stories<p>I was just putting the finishing touches to an explanation of mathematical group theory for <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/aug/24/genius-in-my-basement-review" title="">my biography of mathematical prodigy Simon Norton</a> when Dido Davies – the wizard who advises me on all my writing, an editor of genius, without whom I wouldn't feel confident about a single page – rang up to tell me she was going to die in six weeks' time.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/mar/09/you-me-big-c-cancer-carers">Continue reading...</a>Health & wellbeingCancerHealthSocietyLife and styleFamilyFri, 09 Mar 2012 23:00:54 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/mar/09/you-me-big-c-cancer-carersPhotograph: Aaron Tilley'Neuroendocrine cancer is what Steve Jobs had, and why he invented the iPad, the iPhone, Apple TV. If he'd had the ordinary pancreatic cancer, he'd have been dead before the MacBook.' Photograph: Aaron TilleyPhotograph: Aaron Tilley'Neuroendocrine cancer is what Steve Jobs had, and why he invented the iPad, the iPhone, Apple TV. If he'd had the ordinary pancreatic cancer, he'd have been dead before the MacBook.' Photograph: Aaron TilleyAlexander Masters and Nicholas Blincoe2012-03-09T23:00:54ZProperty speculation in Israel is on rocky ground | Nicholas Blincoehttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/jan/15/israeli-settlement-speculation-economy
The Israeli economy is highly dependent on the housing boom in settlement areas. If it falters, who loses?<p>Ten years ago, I wrote a novel about real estate deals in Jerusalem, <a href="http://www.hodder.co.uk/authors/author.aspx?AuthorID=1477" title="Hodder: Sceptre: Nicholas Blincoe">The Dope Priest</a>, and the intervening years have done nothing to cool this shadowy and little-understood market.</p><p>This week, Florida-based millionaire <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irving_Moskowitz" title="Wikipedia">Irving Moskowitz</a> started construction on what is intended to be a Jewish-only zone inside Palestinian East Jerusalem, on land dubiously <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/jan/09/irving-moskowitz-east-jerusalem-settler" title="Guardian: Irving Moskowitz demolishes part of Jerusalem hotel to build settler housing">designated as abandoned</a>. Moskowitz's antics are <a href="http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,987062,00.html?promoid=googlep" title="Time: Israel: The power of money">driven by ideology</a>, but he presumably hopes that the finished condos will attract tenants.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/jan/15/israeli-settlement-speculation-economy">Continue reading...</a>IsraelMiddle East and North AfricaWorld newsPalestinian territoriesBenjamin NetanyahuSat, 15 Jan 2011 12:00:06 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/jan/15/israeli-settlement-speculation-economyNicholas Blincoe2011-01-15T12:00:06ZBethlehem: Lessons from Christmas Townhttps://www.theguardian.com/travel/2010/dec/18/bethlehem-christmas-nicholas-blincoe
Nicholas Blincoe has spent much of the past five years in Bethlehem. So what has it taught him about peace and goodwill to mankind?<p>Where would we be without joy to the world and goodwill to all mankind? Oh. Well, let's agree the quintessential Christmas message remains timeless, even when actual joy and goodwill are thin on the ground. For the past five years, I've spent half my life in Bethlehem working on a documentary with my wife, the director <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leila_Sansour" title="">Leila Sansour</a>; and by working, I mean making tea for her crew. As we finish the final edit, Bethlehem council is slinging its ragbag of festive decorations across <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Street" title="">Star Street</a>. A giant inflatable Santa Claus has appeared outside the pirate DVD shop. It seems a good time to ask if the world's Christmas Town has anything special to tell us about peace on Earth.</p><p>Like a model prisoner who took his chance to&nbsp;learn an honest trade, my years in Bethlehem have turned me into a decent tour guide. A good starting point, always, is Shepherds' Field, where the original Christmas message was delivered – by a multitude of the heavenly host. If this seems far-fetched, the secret to a good tour is not to betray scepticism. Treat the material as Gospel, as it were, and you can't go far wrong. I watch the local guides as they recount the Christmas story to pilgrims from the Philippines, Nigeria or, as today, Ukraine and try to pick up tips. The Ukrainians wear tight, bright clothes, as though undecided whether to head for the beach or a cabaret.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2010/dec/18/bethlehem-christmas-nicholas-blincoe">Continue reading...</a>Palestine holidaysChristmasSat, 18 Dec 2010 00:02:03 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/travel/2010/dec/18/bethlehem-christmas-nicholas-blincoePhotograph: Michal ChelbinNicholas Blincoe: 'We Bethlehemites are a moany bunch.' Photograph: Michal ChelbinPhotograph: Michal ChelbinNicholas Blincoe: 'We Bethlehemites are a moany bunch.' Photograph: Michal ChelbinNicholas Blincoe2010-12-18T00:02:03ZWhy does Stephen Hawking think science has overtaken philosophy? | Nicholas Blincoehttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2010/sep/08/stephen-hawking-philosophy-maths
Philosophy offers more than Hawking's restless 'progress'<p>Stephen Hawking uses his new book, The Grand Design, to admonish philosophers for <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_8978000/8978820.stm" title="BBC: What is Hawking's M-theory?">failing to keep up</a>. My question is: is this really about keeping up? Hawking believes that since science has so far outstripped philosophy it is time for the thinkers to leave the field to the guys with the protractors and pocket calculators, but – another question – who let Stephen Hawking choose the rules of the game?</p><p>A quote from The West Wing comes to mind. Speechwriter Sam Seaborn argues that mankind should go to Mars because "it's next": "we came out of the cave, and we looked over the hill and we saw fire; and we crossed the ocean and we pioneered the west, and we took to the sky. The history of man is hung on a timeline of exploration and this is what's next."</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2010/sep/08/stephen-hawking-philosophy-maths">Continue reading...</a>Stephen HawkingPhilosophyMathematicsWorld newsScienceWed, 08 Sep 2010 16:14:20 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2010/sep/08/stephen-hawking-philosophy-mathsPhotograph: Murdo Macleod'Hawking is so evangelical about the notion of progress is he that it might as well be a religion'. Photograph: Murdo MacleodPhotograph: Murdo Macleod'Hawking is so evangelical about the notion of progress is he that it might as well be a religion'. Photograph: Murdo MacleodNicholas Blincoe2010-09-08T16:14:20ZWe can't escape from mystery | Nicholas Blincoehttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2010/aug/18/religion-sacred-bethlehem-prayer
The sacred is only strengthened by all our efforts to define and discuss it away<p>The cave below the <a href="http://bit.ly/9Qi8e7">Church of the Nativity</a> in Bethlehem is the hidden<br>core of the original Roman Christian temple. Before a service, the<br>priests go down a flight of steps beneath the altar to prepare the<br>Eucharist in private. For half an hour, the cave becomes the Holy of<br>the Holies, a reminder of a time when the difference between the<br>priestly caste and the rest of society was based upon their right of<br>access to sacred places, off-limits to everyone else.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2010/aug/18/religion-sacred-bethlehem-prayer">Continue reading...</a>ReligionChristianityPhilosophyWed, 18 Aug 2010 09:33:24 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2010/aug/18/religion-sacred-bethlehem-prayerNicholas Blincoe2010-08-18T09:33:24ZLiberal Democrats have toughened up | Nicholas Blincoehttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/may/14/liberal-democrats-coalition-conference
A conference is being held so Lib Dems can vent at the coalition, but the party is ready to let its head rule its heart<p>Any Liberal Democrat still aghast at the new government gets a chance to vent this Sunday at a <a href="http://www.libdems.org.uk/special_conference.aspx" title="Liberal Democrats: Special Conference">special conference</a> in Birmingham. It would be a shame if no one protested, chained to the railings with placards denouncing "this sort of thing". The conference provides an opportunity to bid farewell to a particular kind of Liberal Democrat mindset – a fond farewell but an overdue farewell. A party that bangs on about balanced parliaments and partnership government has to be willing to step up when the opportunity arises. We cannot pretend to be the purity of the powerless any more. And the electoral math has long suggested that our first partner in government would be the Conservatives.</p><p>It is a long way from a fringe event I attended at conference in 2006 with a friend, an aide to Nick Clegg. The moderator asked, as a thought experiment, if there were any circumstances under which members could imagine going into coalition with the Conservatives. It was purely hypothetical. No one spelled out the circumstances. So we stuck up our hands. I can tell you, we snatched them back pretty quick when we realised we were the only people in a packed hall of 200 people with our hands in the air. It was like an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._M._Bateman" title="Wikipedia: HM Bateman">HM Bateman</a> cartoon: "The Man Who … ".</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/may/14/liberal-democrats-coalition-conference">Continue reading...</a>General election 2010Liberal DemocratsLiberal-Conservative coalitionConservativesPoliticsUK newsFri, 14 May 2010 14:00:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/may/14/liberal-democrats-coalition-conferencePhotograph: Bruno Vincent/GettyThen home affairs spokesman, Nick Clegg addressing the Liberal Democrat conference at Brighton in 2006. Photograph: Bruno Vincent/GettyPhotograph: Bruno Vincent/GettyThen home affairs spokesman, Nick Clegg addressing the Liberal Democrat conference at Brighton in 2006. Photograph: Bruno Vincent/GettyNicholas Blincoe2010-05-14T14:00:00ZBoris Johnson lured Nick Clegg to immigration table | Nicholas Blincoehttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/apr/19/general-election-2010-liberaldemocrats
Johnson-backed scheme convinced Clegg that a one-off route to citizenship releases people from criminality<p>Frankly, there are times when you thank God for Boris Johnson. During the mayoral campaign in April 2008, the Johnson backed a campaign known as <a href="http://www.strangersintocitizens.org.uk/" title="Strangers into citizens">"Strangers into Citizens"</a>, an initiative that aims to offer a one-off route into citizenship for the half million-plus migrants currently trapped in the black economy. Nick Clegg's support for a two year "earned route into citizenship" (different to an amnesty) has drawn attacks from Conservatives. But Johnson's staunch and reasoned enthusiasm <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2009/apr/15/boris-johnson-illegal-immigrant-amnesty" title="Guardian: Boris Johnson's backing boosts illegal immigrant amnesty campaign">for the same initiative</a> makes if hard to portray Liberal Democrats as soft on immigration.</p><p>When Clegg and Johnson agree, it introduces a note of reason into a topic affecting the lives of millions of men and women who are never likely to be deported, but have no way of becoming ordinary, tax paying UK citizens.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/apr/19/general-election-2010-liberaldemocrats">Continue reading...</a>General election 2010PoliticsUK newsLiberal DemocratsNick CleggBoris JohnsonImmigration and asylumLondonLondon politicsMon, 19 Apr 2010 12:30:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/apr/19/general-election-2010-liberaldemocratsNicholas Blincoe2010-04-19T12:30:00ZMiddle Eastern nostalgia for the 1970s | Nicholas Blincoehttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/apr/18/seventies-music-middle-east
Why do so many people in the Middle East keep harking back to the 1970s?<p>Just what is it that makes the 1970s so different, so appealing? Last weekend, a 14-piece band <a href="http://www.serpentinegallery.org/2010/02/chicago_boys_while_we_were_sin.html" title="">celebrated the 70s</a> with pop-disco hits from the Middle East at a restaurant on the Edgware Road in London.</p><p>Fronted by the Kurdish Iraqi-born artist, Hiwa K, the band comprised members from across the Middle East and played in front of video projections of the original artistes such the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7F40MVG0Wc" title="">Bendaly Family</a> (Lebanon), <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTzGTJ4kl2o" title="">Ahmed Zahir</a> (Afghanistan) and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ahr81Bjs5M" title="">Googoosh</a> (Iran).</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/apr/18/seventies-music-middle-east">Continue reading...</a>Middle East and North AfricaMusicSun, 18 Apr 2010 12:00:01 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/apr/18/seventies-music-middle-eastNicholas Blincoe2010-04-18T12:00:01ZA rebirth for Rupert Murdoch? | Nicholas Blincoehttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/apr/05/rupert-murdoch-rebirth-jordan
By having his children baptised in the River Jordan, perhaps the head of News Corp is signalling his own conversion<p>This week's Hello Magazine <a href="http://www.hellomagazine.com/royalty/201003293185/queen-rania/hello/Jordan/1/" title="">has a cover</a> so Hello-ishly Hello-esque that one ought to wear sunglasses before picking it up. Royalty, in the shape of Queen Rania of Jordan, rubs shoulders with celebrity (Nicole Kidman), in a composition of flowing white robes and surrounded by decoratively angelic children. But wait, who is the outsize leprechaun in the corner? Surely not Rupert Murdoch, looking like he has wandered into a Broadway revival of Hair! The photographs were taken at the baptism ceremony of Murdoch's youngest children, hosted by Queen Rania at a baptism site in the River Jordan. It looked like a grand day out, but the question with anything Murdoch-related, is why did he do it? Swiftly followed by that other question when anything unusual happens in the Middle East: is it good for Israel?</p><p>Murdoch recently <a href="http://www.al-bab.com/blog/blog1003b.htm#murdoch_israel_and_avatar" title="">bought part</a> of an Arab media company, Rotana, and is <a href="http://www.palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=15809" title="">partnering an Abu Dhabi film studio</a>. These deals might explain why he is popping up in the Middle East. But Murdoch does not do things to send messages to the wider world. Rather, he sends calculated messages to the market and, more importantly, to the corridors of power in his Byzantine empire, News Corp.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/apr/05/rupert-murdoch-rebirth-jordan">Continue reading...</a>Middle East and North AfricaWorld newsJordanRupert MurdochMediaMon, 05 Apr 2010 10:00:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/apr/05/rupert-murdoch-rebirth-jordanNicholas Blincoe2010-04-05T10:00:00ZIs the pope a philosopher? | Nicholas Blincoehttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2010/apr/02/pope-philosophy
For Benedict, relativism is the root of all evil: a force tending towards chaos and destruction<p>Pope Benedict XVI spent his earlier, professional life as a theologian and one might say he has reached the absolute heights of his profession: he has become infallible. Yet his PhD was in philosophy, a field that lies outside Catholic doctrinal certainties. This presumably means that even the most ardent Catholic could challenge the pope on his philosophy. So what is it? Is the pope a philosopher?</p><p>The first task is to separate the pope's philosophy from his theology. How do we construct a Benedictine philosophy that is separate from his faith? In fact, it's nearly impossible. Benedict insists they should be intertwined. In Mexico, in 1996, <a href="http://www.ewtn.com/library/CURIA/RATZRELA.HTM" title="he argued that ">he argued that</a> "Reason will not be saved without the faith, but the faith without reason will not be human."</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2010/apr/02/pope-philosophy">Continue reading...</a>Pope Benedict XVIPhilosophyEthicsThe papacyFri, 02 Apr 2010 11:00:01 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2010/apr/02/pope-philosophyNicholas Blincoe2010-04-02T11:00:01Z